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Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day. Genesis 35:20 · Berean Standard Bible
Jacob sets up a pillar to mark Rachel's grave, and that pillar marks her tomb to this day—a permanent memorial to a woman he loved deeply.
Just as Jacob marked his encounter with God with a pillar at Bethel, he marks Rachel's grave with a pillar. It's his way of honoring her, ensuring she's not forgotten. The phrase 'to this day' suggests this pillar was still standing when Genesis was written, making Rachel's memory tangible and real.
The narrative describing Jacob's memorial
Rachel's pillar endures as a testimony to her importance in Israel's story. She's not a minor character; she's deeply loved and deeply mourned. Her sons, Joseph and Benjamin, will play crucial roles in the family's future, and they carry their mother's memory forward. Her death at Bethlehem foreshadows redemption coming from that same place.
Jacob erects a stone pillar at Rachel's grave, and this memorial marks the location of her tomb to the present day, preserving Rachel's memory in the landscape of Israel.
Jacob's erection of a stone pillar (matsevah) parallels his earlier monument-building at Bethel, but this memorial is grounded in grief rather than glory. The narrator's claim that this pillar 'marks Rachel's tomb to this day' (ad hayom hazeh) indicates the text was written long after the events it describes, when this tomb tradition was already established and recognized. Biblical scholars call such notations 'etiological explanations'—they explain why a place has its current name or status. This suggests Rachel's tomb was an actual pilgrimage site during the period when Genesis was being written.
The narrator
Rachel's tomb becomes the only burial monument in Genesis that attains this kind of lasting significance. While Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all have burial narratives that locate them in the family tomb (the cave of Machpelah), Rachel's grave stands alone on the roadside—a solitary, accessible memorial. In later Jewish and Islamic tradition, Rachel's tomb becomes a site of pilgrimage and prayer, transforming the place of her death into a space of ongoing intercession. This reflects how biblical narrative can encode genuine historical memory within theological narrative, creating sacred geography that shapes communities for centuries.
18And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.
19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
20Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day.
21Israel again set out and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder.
22While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.
Read all of Genesis 35 — God calls Jacob back to where it all started. Rachel dies on the road. The promises continue through grief.
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